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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1985-3-13, Page 5psi $Rf47QJ11!flQNN. WS•RECORD,WEDNESDAY,MARCH13, 1985 The Clinten Nows-Record Is published each Wednesday of P.O. 80: 39, Clinton, Ontario. Canada. NOM 10.0. Eel.: 482-3443- Sqpbscrlptlon Rote: Canada; $19.75 Sr. Citizen- $16.75 per year U.S.A. foreign - 385.00 per year it is registered as second doss mail by the post office under the permit number 0817. The Nows-Record incorporated in 1929 the Huron News -Record, founded in 1881, and This Clinton News Era• founded in 1865. Total prises runs 3.700. Kali °scope 13y Shelley McPhee incorporating THE BLYTH STANDARD CCNA J. H+>WARD AITKEN - Publisher SHELLEY McPHEE - Editor GARY HAIST - Advertising Manager MEMBER Display advertising_ rates Rate Card No. 15 effective Octobor 1, 1984 A MEMBER JV Landowners stand up for rights Dear Ei.itor: By now many of your readers will have received maps and letters from Ontario Hydro telling them where a possible 500 kV Transmission line could be built. I thought they might be interested in knowing the history surrounding this project and some of the things they can now do to stop it. In the early 1970s Hydro was proposing to bring several more lines out of the Bruce Nuclear Power Development. This caused such an uproar that the Royal Commission .on Electric Power Planning was established to study this and many other aspects of Hydro's planning. After several million dollars and several years of study and Hear- ings the Porter Commission recommended that one more line could be built out of Bruce and THAT IT SHOULD HAVE MINIMUM IMPACT ON PRIME AGRICULTURAL LAND. Hydro then developed various possible systems and recommended one which in- cluded a line from Bruce to London. The farm community had a hard' tirne believing this was the route with the least agricultural impact. A coalition was formed called the Foodland-Hydro Committee which examin- ed the proposal. We presented an alter- native proposal to the Hearing Board which was studying Hydro's plan. We demonstrated that a line from Bruce to Bar- rie would have much less agricultural im- pact. In the London area rebuilding a 115 kV line would minimize new impacts on agriculture. The Hearing Board agreed with us and told Hydro to proceed with our pro-. poral. When Hydro had developed this plan to the stage where they identified specific line locations a group of land owners and urban cottage owners got excited and took Hydro and the Hearing Board to Court on the legal question of adequate notice. The Court nullified the Hearing Boards decision on this legal technicality. This put Hydro back to square one and Hydro decided to develop line locations from Bruce to London before proceeding with a new Hearing. The Original Hea'C fng Board held well publicized and well attended Hearings. It received input from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food as well as from con- cerned farm groups. I believe it made a wise decision. It seems unfortunate that 34 days of hearings were nullified at the last mo- ment by the action of people who hadn't bothered to be involved when they had the opportunity. What can concerned land owners in the Bruce to London area do now? They need to get out to the Hydro information meetings and make it clear that they expect the line out of the Bruce Nuclear Power. Develop- ment will conform to the Royal Commission on Electric Power Planning recommenda- tion that it have MINIMUM IMPACT ON AGRICULTURE. They may suggest that, the original Hearing Board was right to recommend the line' going from•Bruce to Barrie. Affected land owners need to make it clear that they are going to stand up for their rights. And clearly they need to get organized. The lawyers.. and stock brokers who own cottages in the area of the Bruce to Barrie route did. Members of the Foodland-Hydro Commit- tee are planning two meetings to help af- fected land owners organize to protect their property rights and prepare for the upcom- ing hearings; The first meeting will be at 8:30, March 21 at South Huron Secondary School in Exeter. The second will be at 8:30 March 22 at F. E.. Madill Secondary School in Wingham. In the meantime people should talk with their neighbors and start collec- ting names and addresses of those. willing to become involved in this organization. Anyone wishing more information should contact me. Yours sincerely, Tony McQuail, Video -vulgarity on television Dear Editor; • I think. we are all too passive about the kind of TV programming that is projected into our living rooms. In particular this year i arn outraged everytime I turn th TV • onto the local station at 4 PM weekday"s'and have the show VIDEO HITS comes spewing forth. i have found that it is regularly t'ulgar and offensive. Not only is it full of violence and gross sex- uality but it portrays these things in such a manner as to make it seem funny and accep- table. For example, today when I turned it on in the middle of the show there were shots of large trucks smashing into cars with peo- ple in them. interspersed with shots of- a fellow laughing. Then there were sequences of people being shot by guns and explosives again alternated with shots of someone laughing. All of this was accompanied by upbeat popular music:- making the whole thing seem good and desirable. • . In this day and age . when we are recongnizing the impact of the medid on the socialization and moral values devoloped by our yyoung people I think it is very important that programming decisions made by TV stations be sensitive to the impact of the content of their programs on the local com- munity. Video Hits has no place being on at a time of day when many young children are just home from school looking for something to watch on TV. Our young people need all the positive examples that we can find for them. Sincerly, Fran McQuail P.S. 1 arn aware of the competition the television industry must be feeling from the video popularity' but i don't think that's any justification for •showing trashy videos on TV. Behind 'Scenes By Kith Roulston F�><rii>I ( )iispirac): While Farrn Cate Defence, the book by Allen Wilford, former president of the Cana- dian Fanners' Survival Association. pro- vokes Sin u' interesting new thoughts on far- ming in ('anada, one of the things that bothered me when•I read it was a feeling that the author -saw a conspiracy against Canadian farmers. Regent headlines in the paper make one wonder if he is right. ('onspiracy theories are mrnfortablc things. it is so easy to explain things Wr. don't understand or don't like by imagining they are all part of gigantic conspiracy, not a series of random happenings. When the series ut political assassinations took place in the United States in the 1960s, for in- stance. it was hard not to imagine that they ought be connected. it was, in a way, less unpleasant. to contemplate a small band of fanatics behind the killings than think there were so many cra7.ies walking around the streets. Wilford claims in his hook that there is a campaign to drive farmers off the land, not just here in Canada but in the U.S. as well. Ile says that 'government programs have been designed specifically for that end and quotes government econofnist.s talking about how important it is to get people off the farms and into other jobs. That. and his distrust of hanks, makes Wilford's book a little hard t , •.«•allow at points. MIL if one has been reading the papers lately, one begins to wonder if there's something behind the conspiracy theories. First of all, a senior official of one of the country's largest banks is quoted in large headlines saying the plight 'of the farmer has been overblown and that it is only the in- competents and gamblers who are in trou- ble. Then in thc U.S. the Reagan administra- "Art and Literature. Okay. What line did the dying Jenny Cavilleri say to Oliver Bar- rett IV?" he asks. I stare back, clueless, without an answer. And this is a crucial question, the difference between winning and losing this match of Trivial Pursuit. -"I don't know the answer," I snap back. "But it's so easy," he teases. "She probably said `I'm dying,' " I answer. "Nope," he grins like the Cheshire cat. "Parting is such sweet sorrow," I try again. "Wrongo," he gleefully announces. "Oh 1 don't know. See you later alligator," I growl. �y 'nounces. "The answer is simple - Love is never having to say you're sorry. You know the big line, from Love Story. Remember now? ' Another match of Trivial Pursuit is over. Again, he's the gloating winner. I'm the sore loser. I challenge him to a rematch next week. This time it will be my choice of games - Silver Screen. (I'm a wizard at old B movie trivia questions). We don't play Trivial Pursuit well together - my husband and I. He can't help it of course. He knows all the answers to all the questions - be it Russian history or rock and roll. He has one of those minds that retains all this trivia type of in- formation. Me, well I seem only to remember things that particularly interest me. In Trivial Pursuit my scope is limited to entertain- ment and a few literature questions. tion claimed the solution to the problems of farmers is just to get them from a welfare state of mind in which they accept govern- ment handouts and to make them good free enterprisers again. Since most farmers are more free enterprise -oriented than Ronald Reagan ever was, it should be interesting to see how they change. The final straw, though, was a 'federal government report • that made the front pages of national newspapers that claimed farmers made twice as much as "or- dinary" Canadians and paid only a quarter of the taxes. The story was full of holes in logic and downright misleading but the,, damage is done. Most people only read the headlines anyway so they think farmers are just faking all their hardships. Farmers' groups that want to argue back will have to take tirne to assemble facts to argue their side and they don't even have access to the figures the government has used. The story will he old hat by the time the counter arguments are ready and they'll make tiny items on the back pages. Farmers will be branded as whiners and complainers who don't carry their full load in society. One only has to look around in com- munities like ours to know its not so. There is a real hardship for many farmers and some hardship that isn't even evident. But the disturbing thing is that government of- ficials must have known this but set out to write a report that would give them public support for the course they wanted to take toward farmers which is nothing. Allen Wilford may not have convinced me that. the government is out to drive farmers off the land but Michael Wilson is doing a good job of it. . It has nntr,i.'' y degree of in- telligence or education - as I tell my hus- band in my sore loser frame of mind - "Big deal, so you won. I just don't waste my brain power on trivial things." Fortunately our Trivial Pursuit wars don't last long. Within moments of his win and my defeat we've settled the battle, • we've gotten our digs in and we're best friends again. Other couples don't settle their Trivial Pursuit battles quite so quickly, or so amiably. United States psychotherapist Teal Ben- nett says that Trivial Pursuit can put ter- minal stress on strained marriages because of mental competition and possible ember - She says that couples with a healthy mar- riage should not be disturbed by the com- petition, but might prefer not to engage in a battle of wits in front of others. "There's always a possibility the com- petitive balance will be thrown," Bennett says. "A healthy couple accepts their dif- ferences and doesn't let it become a con- test." "Where there's a marriage there is an im- balance, it's one more thing that can put it into more difficulty." According to Bennett people have three basic fears - "dying, going crazy and mak- ing a fool of yourself" - and playing Trivial Pursuit "can charge directly into that third one." Playing the board game can cause embar- rassment and feelings of incompetence in some people. Trivial Pursuit encourages competition more than other board games because it is a pure test of mental skill. "Monopoly is much more a game of luck. This is a game where you get to show off. If you've got something to show off you can love the game," Bennett said. But for people who don't enjoy, public tests of mental acuity, Trivial Pursuit can lead to self-doubt and can exploit a vulnerable rela;, tionship. We have some friends who don't like play41) - ing Trivial 'Pursuit. They say they're not smart enough. Still, we encourage them to join in and set up teams to make the game more fun and less, intimidating for hesitant players. Our team matches of Trivial Pursuit are anything but challenging. We spend most of the time giving crazy answers, drinking with their ownrules which include hints, help from the sidelines, tough restrictions on the winner and generous bending of the rules for the underdogs. We've even been known to resort to charades, which in itself can be more challenging than the actual game. Trivial Pursuit is a favorite, rainy -day -at - the -cottage activity. When family and friends are together we're always assured of a few hours of fun when the Trivial Pur- suit game comes out. When it comes to one-on-one Trivial com- bat with my husband the game is still fun.I have no intention of letting a silly board game. ruin my marriage. But, I'll keep challenging him to re- matches. A bit of revenge would be so sweet. So here's fair warning to you, husband of mine, one of these days I intent to devastate you at Trivial Pursuit. Then we'll see who's grinning! Spring thaw By Anne JNarejk,o Sugar and.Spice ar times Boy, the world is in some mess today, isn't it? With two world wars in this century, and the oceans of blood shed in them, not to men- tion the limited wars. in Korea and Viet Nam, you'd think mankind would come to its senses, sit back and say, "Hey, chaps. ' Enough is enough. Let's sit back, cultivate our own gardens, and have a few centuries of peace and friendship. Let's relax a little, try to make sure everybody has at least two squares a day, stop burning up ir- replaceable energy, and make love. not war." Not a chance. All over this planet people are starving, shooting, burning, blowing up, raping, mutilating, and demonstrating, all in the name of some non-existent ideal, such as freedom, or nationalism, or language, or religion, or color. And nobody is making a nickel out of 1't all, except the purveyors of weapons. All over the world, in vast areas of Asia, Africa and South America particularly, there are probably 300 times more refugees, orphans and just plain starving people than there were at the beginning of this century of enlightenment. World War I. with its millions of dead, produced a bare decade and half of peace. It also signalled the beginning of the end of the fairly fair and benevolent British Em- pire, allowed the beginning of the massive international communism, and by its punitive peace terms, laid the foundations for World War 11. .That -one produced as little, or Tess. It vulted Russia and the U.S. into the great confrontation that has been going on ever since. It wrote finis to the British Empire and reduced that sturdy people to a drained, impoverished, third-class power. it split Europe down the middle between two By Bill Smiley philosophies, communism and capitalism. It launched on the world the final weapon by which mankind could write kaput to his own species.. as it smartened anybody up? Not exact- ly. Today we have Iranians beating on • Kurds, Chinese glaring at Russians, Cambo- dians hammering Laotians, blacks fighting blacks all over Africa, Jews and Palesti- nians toeing off, dictatorships in South America, India in turmoil, revolution in Central America, Irishmen blowing up each other with giddy abandon, old Uncle Tom Cobley and all. We don't seem to learn much, do we? The United Nations, a noble idea, conceived with a touch of the greatness man can aspire to, is a joke, albeit an expensive one, merely a political sounding -board for every new pipsqueak na- tion that wants some publicity, along with plenty of foreign aid. The U.S. which emerged from WW II as a great, powerful and wealthy nation. has been terribly weakened, chiefly by its exter- nal affairs policies, or lack of them, and the meddling in foreign affairs of the notorious CIA. It had its shining moments: the Marshall Plan to put devastated Europe back on its feet; Kennedy's showdown with Kruschev over the Cuban missiles instalment; an at- tempt to make a better deal for blacks in their own country. But these were flawed by other events and attitudes: the backing of right-wing dic- tators around the world; the loss of face in Korea; the treatment of Cuba; the meddling in the affairs of other nations; the fairly in discriminate supplying of arms to anybody who could pay for them; and finally, the abortive, badly -burned fingers mess of Viet Nam. At home right now, the States nas growing inflation and unemployment, belligerent blacks and hardline unions. Abroad, "it has lost a great deal of credibility, and seems to be pushed around by anybody who has plen- ty of oil. American imperialism is coming home to roost, and there are a lot of vultures among the roosters. Cuba is an out -spoken enemy. Mexico, sitting on a huge oil deposit, is cool, considering past grievances. The Philip- pines are gone. Japan and Germany,( the losers in WW II, are the winners in the economic war. The U.S. dollar is no longer the international monetary standard. The Panama Canal is going. But let's not forget the tremendous power that lies in that great, half-stunnednation of the Western henisphere, the U.S. of America. The giant may be slumbering, having nightmares, twitching in his sleep. But he's far from dead. There is still a great, latent vitality in the States. With strong leadership, and a renewed sense of purpose, the. Yanks can make a tremendous comeback, as they have proven more than once. For our sakes, they'd better. Despite what our ubiquitous nationalists blather, Canada is riding on the coat-tails of the U.S., and you'd better believe it. If they suffer, we suffer. If they bleed, we hemmorhage. Let's not give it away: our gas and oil and water and hydropower. Let's trade shrewd- ly, like a Yankee. But let's not get mean and stingy and narrow, either. bet's be neighborly. For the simple fact is, that if Canadians get all upright and righteous and miserly, refusing to share, they could walk in and take over this country and help themselves. And nobody, in the world, would lift a finger to stop them. Clinton bank will collect Red Cross donations Dear Editor: To make it clear to all who aivassing for the Red Cross, the Bank of Montr@al in Clinton is kindly acting as treasurer and money collected can he taken there or given to the captain of the wards. Out-of-town collectors may also deposit there. Individuals inadvertency misseu may also donate there and be given a Red Cross receipt. All books used or unused must be returned either to the captains or to my address, 154 Ontario St., Clinton. These books have to be sent to London Red Cross headquarters to be checked. Please keep a record of all money col- lected as we like to know amounts from wards or towns to keep for future reference. Sincerely, Bess Fingland • •